1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shifter for a vehicle transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, as a shifter for a vehicle transmission, there have been known two types: an automatic transmission (AT) shifter and a manual transmission (MT) shifter. As the automatic transmission shifter, there has been proposed a shifter designed to support a shift lever swingably about two axes orthogonal to each other, in such a manner as to allow a driver to manually move the shift lever in a first direction (shift direction) (e.g., a frontward-rearward (longitudinal) direction of a vehicle body in a state after the shifter is mounted to the vehicle body) and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction (selection direction) (e.g., a rightward-leftward (lateral) direction of the vehicle) so as to shift speed stages of an automatic transmission through a shift cable (see, for example, JP 11-170883A).
As the manual transmission shifter, there has been proposed a shifter designed to rotatably hold a spherical portion provided on a shift lever, in such a manner to allow a driver to manually move the shift lever in a shift direction and a selection direction to change a speed stage of a manual transmission through a shift cable and a selection cable (see, for example, JP 09-226402A).
The former shifter designed as the automatic transmission shifter cannot be used for a manual transmission, and the latter shifter designed as a manual transmission shifter cannot be used for an automatic transmission. That is, each of the two types of shifters is not designed to be usable both in a manual transmission and in an automatic transmission. Moreover, the two types of shifters are produced independently and separately.